1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to birdhouse constructions and, more particularly, is concerned with a window-mounted bird observatory assembly and method of constructing the assembly.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Many people enjoy observing birds. Nesting boxes or birdhouses are structures which people build and mount at suitable locations where they desire birds to live. A birdhouse generally provides a substantially enclosed space for a bird to nest and hatch her eggs and raise baby birds. Birdhouses are a common way for people to attract birds to live near them and to observe birds. Many birdhouses, however, do not permit people to conveniently view the birds when they are inside the birdhouse. As a result, some birdhouses have been developed over the years which do allow birds inside them to be seen from outside.
Representative examples of the prior art birdhouses and the like which enable people to more easily observe birds nested inside them are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,953,503 to Lundquist, U.S. Pat. No. 5,016,571 to Totaro, U.S. Pat. No. 5,170,747 to Strangio, U.S. Pat. No. 5,493,997 to Ritchey and U.S. Pat. No. 5,551,657 to Liethen. The Lundquist, Strangio, Ritchey and Liethen patents employ either suction cups, adhesive tape, glue or mateable hook and loop fastening material to mount a birdhouse or a structure for mounting a birdhouse or the like to a window pane. The Totaro, Strangio and Ritchey patents provide a one-way viewing window which allows a person on an opposite side of the window pane to look into the birdhouse without being noticed by the birds inside. The Strangio and Ritchey patents also provide an opaque cover for covering the one-way viewing window. The Strangio and Ritchey patents employ either adhesive tape, glue or mateable hook and loop fastening material to mount the one-way viewing window to the window pane opposite from the birdhouse and to mount the opaque cover to the one-way viewing window.
Problems exist, however, with the above-mentioned prior art means for mounting birdhouses and the like to window panes. Suction cups are susceptible to failure because sunlight can damage the material comprising the cups and cold temperatures can affect the resiliency of the material. Mateable hook and loop fastening material is expensive and tends to be thick in cross-section and thereby increases a distance between the window pane and the birdhouse and must be precisely aligned for maximum holding strength. Adhesive tape and glue alone are generally not reliable.
Consequently, a need remains for an assembly which provides a solution to the aforementioned problems in the prior art without introducing any new problems in place thereof.